CURRENT CONTROVERSIES
by Loretta Maase, LPC-S
Recently there has been an escalation of breathless, histrionic false statements and false accusations circulating the internet about parent alienation, reunification services, and qualified mental health professionals. These types of groundless attacks are not new; they have been circulated for decades, receded over time, and then circulated again. Some of the currently active sites are created by the same individual under different names. Four such sites actually include posts and comments back and forth from pseudonyms created by that same person. In other words, it's circular reporting and baseless.
It would be wise to question the motives of those who would make such preposterous assertions. When people lie like this, they usually have something to hide. Research these sites and the circular reporting for yourself.
We understand that many of the other individuals posting on these site are unreformed alienators - who had their children removed for protective reasons - and are simply extending their abusive behaviors typically directed toward their children’s other parent to professionals - professionals who seek to intervene in the form of child abuse known as parent alienation.
It is our clinical judgment that these sites provide a valuable service as they show in real time the types of slurs, slanderous statements, false accusations, and harassments that alienated parents have endured for the last several decades. We encourage alienated parents, attorneys, judges, custody evaluators, guardian ad litems, and etc., to review these sites carefully. 1. They verify and validate the outcries from alienated parents about the horrific behaviors they have endured at the hand of the alienating parent, often for years. 2. Anyone with a degree of discernment will quickly see the ludicrousness of the accusations.
However, some of these types of sites have recently crossed the line and begun harming children. There is concrete evidence that some of the online sites have participated in illegal activities involving minor children. Because these crimes are being investigated by the FBI and local authorities we are not at liberty to discuss specifics. For this reason – to protect the children from further harm – Turning Points for Families requires that all cases involving TPFF services and TPFF providers be sealed by court order.
TPFF HAS CHOSEN TO REMAIN SILENT REGARDING THE OUTLANDISH ACCUSATIONS FOR IMPORTANT REASONS:
1) We are prevented by confidentiality and/or HIPAA laws to discuss any case specifics;
2) However, we will respond in general to the false, child abuse claims by the alienators and their supporters as follows:
3) If alienators can manipulate their children into make false child abuse and child sex abuse allegations against their other parent—despite the horrific psychological harm that does to their children—we should expect alienators to make false allegations against the therapist and other professionals who seek to restore healthy family relationships and expose the alienators’ child abuse;
4) If there were the slightest bit of merit to the allegations against TPFF and similar therapy programs, why has no court shut us down and why do courts across the country and globe increasingly order our treatment intervention?
5) And, why has no licensing board ever revoked a license or disciplined a single therapist who provides reunification therapy?
We ask the reader to use common sense and recognize the pattern of behavior found on these sites. Parental alienation is a severe form of psychological maltreatment – a form of child abuse. Research tells us that alienating parents suffer from “co-morbidities” – typically mental illnesses such as borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, sociopathic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder – (and often a combination of personality disorders known as Cluster B).
Tragically for the children, parents suffering with these types of mental health issues present with what we refer to as the 4 C’s: calm, cool, charming, and convincing. They manage to enlist unsuspecting, naive, and otherwise well-meaning but gullible individuals in their war against the alienated parent (and the therapists who stand in the way). These unsuspecting individuals have no idea that they are actually being duped by parents who lost their children due to child abuse.
To supporters of these online sites: we encourage any interested parties to get the facts for yourselves. Where possible, request court records on cases where the judge ultimately ruled that the children were being abused by the alienating parent and was subsequently forced to remove them in order to protect them. If a reunification program was court ordered then you can be assured that the judge took such action only after hearing all of the evidence in the case (typically cases take years to get the point where a judge will remove a child for protective reasons). Educate yourselves. You will see that you are on the wrong side of this tragic family dynamic.
Turning Points for Families does not accept estrangement cases – cases where the rejected parent has been found guilty of bona fide abuse. Turning Points for Families accepts cases by court order only, and only after the court has determined that the children must be removed from the alienating parent for protective reasons.
Do your homework. Educate Yourselves. Think for yourselves. To convince a child that a beloved parent no longer loves the child, is no longer safe for the child, or no longer has time for the child is a gut wrenching and devastating experience for the child. Parental alienation is child abuse – and untreated children suffer for a lifetime as a result.